New Labour pair call for poverty rethink

P. Wintour

The Guardian, May 25th 2005, p.13

Labour should return to its founding principle of fighting poverty
by raising taxes on the rich, two New Labour thinkers says in a
policy paper. Anthony Giddens, originator of the Third Way, and
Patrick Diamond, a Downing Street policy coordinator, argue for
a tax on capital transfers by the wealthy and the lifting of the
ceiling on national insurance contributions. They say "the haphazard
if successful" anti-poverty agenda of Labour's first two terms,
which stressed the need to get the poor into work may have reached
the end of its life.

Unemployment of over-50s costs economy up to £31bn a year

A. Taylor

Financial Times, May 24th 2005, p. 4

The government needs to do more to increase job opportunities
for unemployed workers aged over 50 to prevent a loss of skills
and experience that is costing the economy billions of ponds, a
Parliamentary reports says today. The study by the Public Accounts
Committee also said there were insufficient data to determine whether
the government's New Deal 50 Plus programme was working effectively.